The History of Labor Day

Labor Day: What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states ? Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York - created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold." 

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883. 

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday - a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement. 

 

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television. 

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership - the American worker.

 

John E. Rudder

John E. Rudder (born 1925) became the first black Marine officer commissioned in the regular United States Marine Corps, in 1948 (though Frederick C. Branch became an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1946).

He was born in Paducah, Kentucky. After serving as an enlisted Marine in World War II, he graduated from the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps. On May 28, 1948, he received his commission as a 2nd lieutenant, and entered the Marine Corps Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, on August 25. He resigned in 1949. Though he experienced discrimination at Quantico, he stated his departure was for personal reasons, and the matter was handled quietly.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), however, was skeptical and put him under long-term surveillance as a suspected communist, eventually accumulating eight volues of material on the Rudder family by 1967. Settling in Washington, D.C., John Rudder - a Quaker - and his wife Doris became anti-war and anti-discrimination activists. The FBI caused trouble for their daughter Miriam many years later. As told to Morley Safer on the 60 Minutes segment "'Sins' of the Fathers ...", which aired on March 1, 1981, she was working as a file clerk for the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations, which was looking into the murders of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. In order for the chairman to obtain the documents he wanted, all committee employees had to get a security clearance. Miriam Rudder claimed she was denied one due to the FBI's suspicions about her parents.

VJ-Day - 69 Years Ago

 

Why did the Second World War start?

 

The Second World War started for the United Kingdom after Germany was warned that if they attacked Poland this would not go unprovoked. Germany did attack on Poland after being warned so then The United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany on September 1st, 1939.

The Years in which World War II was fought from were 1939 to 1945 in Europe and, during much of the 1930s and 1940s, in Asia.

When did World War II Finish?

World War II finally came to an end on the 8th of May 1945, when Adolf Hitler had committed suicide. News quickly spread about the death of Adolf Hitler and the guns fell silent. Winston Churchill the then prime minister announced Victory in Europe.

Today we celebrate VE Day which symbolises the Victory in Europe celebrating the end of the World War 2 on 8th May 1945. Street parties were held in every street throughout the whole of the United Kingdom and to finally welcome home the brave men and women. 

Even though the World War II was officially declared over in Europe and other western countries in the Far East, countries such as Japan carried on with the blood shed, and killing thousands of people.

Japan, did not give up so easily and the fact that Germany had surrendered did not deter Japan in anyway.

Japan had two Atomic bombs dropped on the country, Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 6th and 9th of August 1945. The Atomic bomb was a turning point in World War II, just when everyone had thought things couldn’t get any worse, a single bomb could do more damage and kill more people than a thousand bombs could achieve.

Soon after this catastrophic event Japans Imperial government consulted with Emperor to try and convince him to surrender, the emperor Hirohito agreed with the Imperial Goverment. Hirohito then made a personal radio address announcing the decision.

On the 10th of August 1945 – Hirohito agreed in principle to surrender and it wasnt until the 15th August 1945, Hirohito and Japan formally surrenders, ending World War II for the entire world.

The conflict spilled over into Africa, included a handful of incidents in the Americas, and a series of major naval battles.